In the autumn of 1987, a senior at Vanderbilt University named Will Perdue gathered with his teammates on the court of Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee. In his clear view stood the basket at which he had spent the previous season dunking – or more accurately Perdunk-ing the ball. Standing seven feet tall, the All-SEC performer was the prototypical center – he took up space, he inhaled rebounds, and he dunked. Repeatedly.

But, now was not the time for such things. Today, Perdue would not dunk. He would not rebound his teammates’ missed shots. He would not shove people around with his considerable frame. Instead, with the ball in his hands, he lined up the shot, glanced down to ensure that his size 21DDDD shoes did not cross the black line, and he shot. From nineteen feet, nine inches he shot the ball. And, he made it.

Well, occasionally he made it. As the assistant coaches tallied the misses and makes, Perdue and his teammates focused on the three pointer. Frank Kornet, Eric Reid – big bruisers – along with their smaller brethren, Barry Booker and Barry Goheen, Scott Draud with his golden coif, Derrick Wilcox, and a young freshman named Charles Mayes. They did not know it at the time, but they were auditioning even then for an exclusive club.

When the first ten days of practice were over, the coaches compiled the statistics. Only those players that made better than 33% of their three-pointers during practice would be given the green light. And, the results were not kind to the big men. Perdue would again man his comfortable position in the post, and in the process would ultimately become the SEC Player of the Year and an All-American. Kornet had perhaps the greatest exterior aspirations of the interior men, but was not allowed to join the club. In the words of Booker, “Kornet always wanted to be in the bomb squad. He was capable as well, and was always envious of us being able to take those jumpers – and he wasn’t allowed to do much of that. He could have been a member, but we didn’t let him in.” Five of his teammates were given the go ahead from their Coach, and ultimately formed what would be known as the “Bomb Squad.”

It would be unfair to write an article about the old “Bomb Squad” without recognizing the vision of Coach C.M. Newton. Having struggled through five rebuilding years, Newton found himself in a unique position. “Newton was on the original committee that foresaw and implemented the three point shot,” notes Draud. Noting this pending advancement in the collegiate game, Newton made a simple observation: shooting 33% from three-point range will be as effective as shooting 50% from two-point range. Draud continues, “I think he had some vision that the shot was coming to the collegiate game, and he started to design his recruiting efforts based on that. Certainly there were many coaches who refused to jump ship, or were slow to implement the three point shot into their repertoire.”

Draud himself was the first major recruiting effort for the new perimeter-based Commodores. A high school senior in Kentucky who played his entire prep career without the three-point shot, Draud still demonstrated to Newton a proficiency for making shots from anywhere on the court. So, he was offered and ultimately signed a scholarship to play at Vanderbilt. And there he joined two young guards who had already made an impact – Barry Booker and Barry Goheen – as well as another incoming freshman named Derrick Wilcox. In 1986-87, the first year of the three point shot, these four players took more than their share from outside. But they did not take them lightly. Newton enforced hard and fast rules for any participation in the three-point barrage.

According to Booker, “Coach Newton would say, ‘we never want to come down, dribble the ball up, and take a three-point shot. We don’t even want to come down, throw one pass, and take a three-point shot. We want all of our three-point shots to come from inside out. Passing the ball into the post and kicking it out, or dribble penetration and kicking it back out.’” The players met this with some disappointment, as Booker continues, “That was kind of a bummer. We all would think, ‘this shot’s easy! I can do anything and come up here and hit this shot.’” But, the Coach’s rule would stand, and ultimately prove to be appropriate and effective for this group of young Commodores.

While they were not officially members of the “Bomb Squad,” Will Perdue and his frontcourt teammates would still be an integral part of their success. Coach Newton had made it clear, the three-point shot was only to be taken if the ball had entered the post. “We got good shots because of Will,” Scott Draud notes. “With that team, it was certainly a smart approach because Will was a dominant force, especially his last year in ‘88. He was the player of the year in the league. People had to honor Will.” Perdue had help on the inside as well. Frank Kornet and Eric Reid could also lure defenses off of the perimeter. While Kornet spent the first part of the season recovering from knee surgery, towards the end of the season he would display the post game that carried him into the NBA following the 1988-89 season. “(Kornet) was great in the NCAA tournament, and he and Will both were very smart players,” notes Barry Goheen.

The relationship between the post players and guards was symbiotic. Not only did the post setup the outside shot, but the outside shot kept defenses from being able to collapse on the post. Perdue is very quick to point out that his individual success during his junior and senior years was largely attributable to his perimeter teammates. “That’s big. If you don’t have that perimeter game, a player like myself would have to rely on trying to get offensive rebounds and maybe getting some points off the fast break.” He adds, “If they made a conscious decision to go zone, I was confident in those guys to hit the outside shot.”

It is truly remarkable to consider the 1987-88 season in the context of the history of Vanderbilt Basketball. C.M. Newton was named Coach of the Year in the SEC. Barry Goheen was named to the All-SEC team along with his teammate Perdue. Perdue was also an All-American and was named SEC Player of the Year. Vanderbilt won 20 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the great 1974 team, coached by Roy Skinner. They would ultimately advance to the Sweet 16, before losing to the eventual National Champion Kansas Jayhawks, in Detroit.

Moreover, Perdue was the last Commodore to average a double-double for an entire season, averaging over 18 points and 10 rebounds for the year, while making over 63% of his field goals. By the end of his junior year, Goheen had already become the 22nd Commodore to join the exclusive 1,000 Point Club, and would end his career as the #7 all-time scorer in Vanderbilt history. Two other members of the Bomb Squad would join Goheen and Perdue in the 1,000 Point Club before their careers ended, as Barry Booker and Scott Draud both threatened Phil Cox’s then all-time career scoring record.

Perhaps the most impressive statistics, however, involved the three-point shooting itself. For the season, Booker, Draud, Goheen, Mayes, and Wilcox hit over 43% of their three-point shots as a group, each one hitting over 40%. In fact, according to radio play-by-play man Charlie McAlexander, 40% was the lower-end cutoff for being named to the Bomb Squad. And, he should know, as he coined the term “Bomb Squad” during the 1987-88 season! Here are the numbers:

Barry Booker – 74/171, 43.3%

Scott Draud – 43/101, 42.6%

Barry Goheen – 29/67, 43.3%

Charles Mayes – 36/85, 42.4%

Derrick Wilcox – 18/39, 46.2%

Booker still holds the SEC record for three-point percentage in a career. During his final three seasons, Booker hit three-pointers at an unreal 46% clip. Draud is in the SEC's top five all time in three-pointers made, and in the top 10 in three-point percentage in a career.

The team did not know it at the time, but they were in the beginning stage of an historic streak that continues today. Vanderbilt is one of only three teams to have hit a three-pointer in every game since the three-point line came into existence in the 1986-87 season. Princeton and UNLV are the others. Booker recalls one game where the streak nearly ended, noting that “one of the times we only had one (made three-pointer) was the Notre Dame game when I was a senior. Goheen hit one in the second half that game, and that was the only one we made.” Goheen adds, “(Notre Dame) was bound and determined that we were not going to make a three, and I made the only one. One out of three. That’s as close as I can remember to us not making a three pointer.”

Does the streak hold a special place in the hearts of the old Bomb Squaders? In their words, quite simply, yes. Goheen states, “I’d like to see it continue. I don’t want the streak to overshadow the player - gunning up three pointers to the detriment of trying to win the game. But, I want it to continue.” Booker chimes in, “The streak is great! That’s certainly a big part of Vanderbilt basketball, of Vanderbilt history, and I hope that keeps going.” Would Booker like to see the Princeton or UNLV streaks end? “I think that would be great! I would love to have Vanderbilt be the last one standing.”

In speaking with Barry Booker, his enthusiasm for life and basketball is immediately obvious. And, he is particularly effusive when speaking about his Commodore teammates. “The Old Bomb Squad,” Booker begins, “it’s really a series of teams. The three-point line came into existence for my sophomore year. Barry Goheen and I were rising sophomores, Scott Draud and Derrick Wilcox were in that next class. We really didn’t know exactly what to expect with the three-point line, didn’t know how much it was going to change the game if at all.”

Of the future Bomb Squad members, Booker may well have been the least likely to become known as a perimeter force. Booker primarily manned the post in high school, often towering above his opponents at six feet four inches. Moreover, he had immense athleticism, as evidenced by his dunking abilities. In his own words, Booker would jump “off two feet, slip it under my left leg, and dunk it with my left hand.” Years before players like Isaiah Rider would perform such feats in the limelight of slam dunk contests, Booker was busy shocking his teammates at Memorial Gym. He adds, however, that he would “make it one time out of eight, maybe.”

But a superior athlete he was, and during his freshman year he made the transition from the post to the point guard position. “He worked very, very hard to adjust to playing in the backcourt for ball handling and shooting,” observes Goheen. So, by the time the three-point line came into being, Booker had spent a year on the perimeter. And his sophomore year was truly remarkable. During the 1986-87 season, Booker hit half of his three-point attempts, establishing himself as one of the premier perimeter shooters in the country – and in the process, out shooting each of his fellow future Bomb Squaders. “You really felt like the ball was going to go in each time he shot it,” notes Goheen. Adds Booker, “I feel like I ought to hit half of my wide open jump shots.”

Off the court, Booker was a force to be reckoned with as well. An engineering major, he was personable and energetic, having grown up in a very dynamic family. The youngest of twelve children – including fellow Commodore hoopster Karen – Booker had some remarkable influences in his life. Every one of his siblings is a college graduate, and seven, including Barry, have gone on to receive advanced degrees. “Our parents did a great job encouraging us to think about the future, and they put us in the right situations. It was a great environment to grow up in, a lot of fun, always plenty going on. My family was enough, but we also had lots of kids in the neighborhood, and we were always out there running around and competing in a lot of ways. I just fell in line and followed as far as school.” Barry became an ace at both shooting craps and playing poker during his collegiate career, and would use this experience on road trips. Draud notes, “he would like to shoot dice, and he would take everybody’s money.”

As a sophomore, Derrick Wilcox served as a capable understudy to the older Booker. In the true point-guard mold, Wilcox looked at his role on the team as a ball-handler and distributor. He was a driver and creator. As Will Perdue notes, Wilcox “took the time to know where the post players wanted the ball.” Draud reinforces this sentiment, stating that “Derrick was a really good point guard, exceptionally quick, and he would always find the open man. He would get you the ball in good scoring opportunities. You never had to worry about being pressed, because he could beat it himself.”

Even though he didn’t consider the outside shot his primary role, Wilcox could more than hold his own with his jump shot. In fact, as a sophomore, Wilcox hit the highest percentage of three-point shots among the Bomb Squad members, at over 46%. “He would take the three point shot if it was presented to him, as opposed to trying to find it,” observes Goheen. “I think he was a very underrated shooter. He was a very good shooter. He was a very underrated shooter who could have shot more if he had wanted.”

He was a defensive presence as well, notes Booker. He was feisty, quick, and relentless when facing opposing guards. Given the guard talent in the SEC at the time, this was critical in allowing Vanderbilt to compete at times. “I was really thankful to have him around when we were playing LSU later in my career,” observes Booker, “because he got to guard Chris Jackson.” While he didn’t receive as much press as some of his teammates, Wilcox was undoubtedly a key factor in Vanderbilt’s success during the late 80s. Among the team’s all-time leaders in steals and assists, Wilcox – only 5’10 – was one of the more complete players at Vanderbilt during this time.

“Draud might have been the best pure shooter I’ve ever seen.” These are the words of Will Perdue, the former Vanderbilt center who played not only with Goheen and Booker, but at the professional level with the likes of John Paxson, Michael Jordan, and Steve Kerr. And Perdue does not make such a statement without thoughtful consideration. He adds “He had such a fluid motion. He would stand out of bounds along the sidelines, and hit eight out of ten.” And, Draud’s shot would not suffer as the game wore on. Because he was not overly reliant on his legs for shooting, he was typically as hot in late game situations as he was in warm-ups. While Draud would not say that he was the best shooter on the team (when asked, he simply replied “I don’t think I’d be pretentious enough to say that”). his cohorts did not hesitate to single him out.

Booker had particularly fond memories of Draud’s shooting prowess, noting that he was “The best shooter of that group, for sure. In any shooting contest, he would be the winner. A phenomenal shooter. That’s all he wanted to do, to get out there on the court, and he had all the confidence in the world. Even if he missed four or five in a row, which I don’t remember happening, he would have confidence that he would hit the next one.”

Goheen chimes in as well, suggesting that “if that first shot (by Draud) had gone in, you just knew you wanted to get him the ball. It was probably going to go in every time that night. He was a terrific shooter, who had range – incredibly long range. It wasn’t just an inch or two beyond the three point line. He could go out to 25 feet or so, which is very important when you have Will Perdue under the basket. You wanted to stretch the defense if you could, and it helps to have shooters with range.”

Despite not having the three-point line at his disposal in high school, how did Draud become such a great three-point shooter? In his own words: “I had a shooting routine I started my junior year in high school. I tried to make 500 jumpers a day, and 100 free throws. I tried to get it in college whenever I could find someone to rebound for me. I did that all the time.” And, Draud still loves basketball, and is still very involved in the sport. At Dixie High School, in Dixie Heights, KY, Draud is the assistant principal and basketball coach. In all, Draud spent six years at Vanderbilt, the last two completing his masters degree in Psychology. Of his decision to attend Vanderbilt, Draud notes “As the years go by, I’m just really more happy with my decision back then to go to Vandy. It’s a great school, and I like what it stands for.”

Charles Mayes completed his first and best season as a Vanderbilt Commodore in 1987-88. As a freshman, Mayes would have an impact on the team’s success that few anticipated. Moreover, he started for C.M. Newton’s squad, which was a rarity for a freshman during Newton’s tenure. He came in as a 6’7 forward out of the Nashville area, and brought a perimeter game that was unusual at the time for a player his size. As Barry Booker notes, Mayes was one player “you had to guard, which made us better inside and helped other people get shots. He was a big part of the bomb squad success.”

Mayes did not necessarily have an ideal shooting form, like Draud or Booker, but he was remarkably effective – he hit over 42% from three-point range as a freshman, while averaging just over seven points a game. Perhaps what he did even better, however, was step up in big-game situations. One game stands out to his teammates. Barry Goheen notes, “He had some great games, especially the North Carolina game. Carolina was #1 in the country, they came to Memorial and we beat them by two points. He hit 5 or 6 three pointers that night.” Additionally, in a game at Auburn later that season, he heated up and proved to be the difference in a Commodore victory. “He was a difference-maker in a number of big wins,” adds Goheen.

Off the court, Mayes was focused on following a family tradition. His father was a prominent doctor in Nashville at the time, and Mayes was as focused on getting into medical school as he was on hitting the outside shot. Ultimately, he would complete his medical degree – and he is now another Vanderbilt “swishin physician”.

Barry Goheen is legendary in the annals of Vanderbilt Commodore basketball. It was not his athleticism that rewarded him with this status. It was not his scoring numbers or even his three-point shooting prowess. It was neither his unkempt hairstyle nor his five o’clock shadow. It was not his considerable intellect. It was not the hours he spent watching soap operas, and it was certainly not his card playing.

Simply put, Barry Goheen is the best clutch performer in Vanderbilt basketball history. And moreover, he is among the most outstanding clutch performers in all of college basketball history – in all of basketball, ever.

In the course of a game and throughout the course of his career, Goheen was a good SEC basketball player. He was not overwhelmingly athletic, nor was he a big time scorer. And, as bomb squad members go, he was not even particularly prolific at hitting the three-pointer. He could penetrate to set up his teammates, he could play some defense, and he could hit the shot when he had the opportunity. All in all, on the surface, he was just pretty good.

But, for Goheen, basketball was played in slow motion. Barry Booker remembers one circumstance that made him keenly aware of this, and that makes him compare Goheen to John McEnroe. “I remember a game against Kentucky – we were way ahead, and after the game he was telling us about a pass he threw to Frank Kornet for a dunk. At the time, he thought, ‘well, he’s covered, so I shouldn’t throw it. But, then I thought, well, we’re up by 25 so what the heck, I’ll throw it. The best the defender could do was knock it out of bounds. So, I threw it, it got there, and he dunked it. It was awesome.’ And, I’m thinking, ‘I didn’t have that many thoughts the entire game, and he looks at a situation in a split second, had that many thoughts, threw the pass, and we scored.’”

To this day, Goheen can recount the entire sequence of events that determined a particular play – and if his recounting conflicts at any point with what another person remembers, one would be wise to trust Goheen’s recollection. A prime example is the home game against Tennessee during the 1985-86 season. This game provided one of the first indications of Goheen’s clutch abilities, and he remembers every detail.

“Two freshmen made the key plays there. We were behind by eight (with 45 seconds left), and we ran an inbounds play and got a shot by Steve Reece, and a foul that brought it to six. Reece missed the free throw, but Booker came in from the fourth lane and tipped it in. So, it was a four point play that cut (the deficit) to 4 points. Tennessee walked, and I hit a little shot to bring it to two. They missed a free throw, so we came down with a chance to tie and we turned it over. Then we fouled their best player, Tony White, a 90% free throw shooter. He missed the one-and-one as well, and we came down, I hit the shot, got fouled, hit the free throw, and we won by a point. It was amazing.” Goheen adds in summary, “That was the most incredible come back that I have ever seen. Not just that I was a part of, but that I have ever seen. That was amazing. Without a three point line, we came back from eight down, and even had a turnover, and we won it in regulation. We scored 9 points, with a turnover, without a three point line. That was pretty incredible.” Indeed, it almost makes Vanderbilt’s recent comeback victory over N.C. State seem probable.

A similar victory that still resonates in the minds of Vanderbilt fans happened in the 1988-89 season, when Vanderbilt – led by Goheen – defeated Georgia. “At halftime I hit about a 60 foot shot to go into the half,” remembers Goheen. Then, “we were behind by two points with about twenty seconds to go (in the game). We had just scored. They had a breakaway lay up that the guy missed, that would have probably put the game out of reach. Reid got the rebound and it came to Booker, and it was just really chaotic. I had stayed down at the other end during that break away, so I was on our end of the floor on the opposite side from where Booker was, and he sent me a pass across the court. I was about 10 feet from the basket, and was pretty open with probably about five seconds to go. I didn’t take the shot, but dribbled out beyond the three-point line, took the three-point shot at the buzzer and we win by one. That is as it happened. People tend to remember the idiot with the wide open ten-footer to tie it, and dribbling out behind the three point line and shooting it from 20 feet out, making it, and winning the game.”

There were a couple of additional, interesting subplots to this game as well. Late in the game, coach Newton called a play for Goheen to take a three-pointer. According to Booker, Goheen confided in him that he was uncomfortable taking the shot, and wanted Booker to take it instead. As it turned out, Booker was fouled before the shot could go up - and he proceeded to hit both free throws.

Goheen adds, “the truth of that is, we had an overtime game the game before that against Ole Miss on the road, and we won that game. Fast-forward to this game, with about 35 or 40 seconds to go, Wilcox and I got mixed up and we turned the ball over. We were behind by 2 points at that time. I told Derrick, ‘If we get the ball back, I’m going to go for the win.’ And, that’s pretty much what happened.”

Coach Newton had a different impression – he believed that Goheen thought the Commodores were down by three points instead of two. But, Goheen vehemently disagrees. “I think to this day, if you hooked him up to a lie detector he’d say, ‘he thought we were behind by three.’ I think he would say that. That’s not true, and I think in his heart of hearts he would probably know it’s not true. I always knew what the time and score was. That’s one thing that he impressed on all of us – always know the time and score, always know what the situation is. It was just one of those impetuous things, ‘I’m gonna go out and try to hit a three-pointer instead of a two pointer and it happened to work. I’d have been run out of town if I’d missed it. That was as wild a last sequence as I was ever involved with.”

The Georgia and Tennessee games – as well as the Penn, Florida, Louisville, and other wild Goheen finishes – notwithstanding, the most important three-point buzzer beaters of his career came in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, in 1988. The Commodores were a seven seed that year, and faced a formidable foe in top ten Pittsburgh. The Panthers were dominant as a two seed, and appeared well on their way to beating Vanderbilt. But, Goheen had a different idea in mind. In the last ten seconds of the game, Vanderbilt trailed by four points. Scott Draud had the ball in the front court, and had the opportunity to either pitch it or shoot it. Draud notes, “He (Goheen) was able to get a better look at it than I was, so I penetrated and pitched, and he hit the first one.” Trailing by one with six seconds left, the All-American center Will Perdue committed his fifth foul to send Pittsburgh to the line – where they made both foul shots. Goheen got the ball, dribbled the length of the court, and launched a 25 foot running three-pointer with a man in his face at the buzzer – and he hit it. With Perdue on the bench, the remaining Commodores quickly dispatched of a distraught Pittsburgh team in overtime, 80-74, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

The Bomb Squad was a remarkable group of young men. Five student-athletes – Barry Booker, Barry Goheen, Derrick Wilcox, Scott Draud, Charles Mayes – formed one of the nation’s first true three-point threats during the late 1980s. Teams like Providence and Kentucky and Princeton would become better known nationally for their prolific use of the outside jumper, but no team used the shot as effectively as the Commodores. Balanced with the formidable inside presence of Will Perdue and Frank Kornet and Eric Reid, these five players put up numbers that have rarely been threatened since. And in doing so, these Commodores embarked on a somewhat improbable run to the Sweet Sixteen in 1988.

Perhaps more importantly, these are five men who represented their University with pride and dignity, both on and off the court. They had a camaraderie that still infuses their relationships today. One can only hope that young people like these five young men will continue to find their way to the campus of Vanderbilt University.